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Aligning population health management with innovations

Posted on Oct 30, 2012 | Written by Glenn Leary | Comments (0)

For HealthFitness, this year’s industry conference season has come to a close, and reflecting on the events, we’ve noticed a number of prominent trends. In fact, if you visit our recent blog posts featuring insights from the recent Health Enhancement Research Organization Forum and Care Continuum Alliance Forum, you will see patterns emerging in both population health management and health insurance operations.

Much of the content at these events discussed the growth of technologies and solutions spurred on by health reform. Here is a summary of two overarching themes:

1. Developing digital communication channels is critical. The health care industry needs more than ever to reach consumers in compelling ways. Individuals have greater freedom in choosing their plans, and they will rely on digital sources to do so. With the increasing popularity of mobile devices and social networks, health plans and their partners need to be fluent in these technologies, leveraging them to build their brands and engage consumers.
2. Member data can and must be used more wisely. The collaborative approach at the foundation of the health care overhaul depends on efficient data sharing between physicians, care providers and members. Electronic health records (EHRs) aim to achieve these goals, and meaningful use standards intend to make sure they are effective. However, interoperability on a broad scale is complicated by privacy laws and administrative burden. Meanwhile, quality initiatives are driving many providers to move toward large medical systems and accountable care organizations. Since these organizations can offer their own proprietary data sharing systems, a niche is appearing in the industry for vendors who can assist in developing and operationalizing their infrastructure. And in relation to this, there remains a demand for portability of key information as members move from plan to plan.

In our development efforts, HealthFitness has aligned with the momentum of these innovations. Our guiding principle of providing a personalized, member-centric experience leads us toward mobile-enhanced digital environments, social networking features, and a platform that integrates member information from numerous sources to tailor engagement. We continue to enhance these features of our solution with a view toward complementing health plans’ product development initiatives.

To learn more about how population health management can best align with health plan operations, download our issue brief, “Health plan top 10: A partnership checklist for population health.” And if you have additional thoughts on the direction of health care innovations, please feel free to share them here.

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